Thursday, March 29, 2012

Here we have it. The outfit I wore to my 13th birthday party at Oaks Park Roller Rink. That was an important day for many reasons: Ryan gave me the Space Jam soundtrack, I had a couples skate with Max, and I wore some lipgloss which was a new and exciting thing.

I have really strong memories of this outfit and I was obsessed with that sweater. The beaded floral choker and yin yang necklace were obviously essential to the look. I've grown out of the hormone nose and the braces, and have learned the undeniable, incomparable power of mascara since this picture was taken, but I still know all the words to the Space Jam soundtrack and I still suck at smiling in pictures.

***DO YOU WANT TO SEE YOURSELF FEATURED IN MY STYLE THEN AND NOW? SUBMIT YOUR BEST KID LOOKS TO EMILY.M.KROPP@GMAIL.COM***

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

By now, you've no doubt heard of Azealia Banks and Iggy Azalea. You may have also heard that they are beefing. So let's break down this beef and work it out.

Who's Who:
Iggy Azalea is the tall white Australian one. She has an insane body and she is currently dating A$AP Rocky (and even has "Live Love A$AP" tattooed on her fingers). She dropped her first mixtape, "Ignorant Art" last year and was the first woman ever featured in XXL's sort-of-coveted, sort-of-prestigious "Freshman Class."* She's gotten co-signs from a handful of southern rappers including Pusha T, YG, and T.I.

Azealia Banks is a New Yorker who went to LaGuardia high school (which is the one from Fame), who burst onto the scene with her song "212" last fall. She has also gotten plenty of press (GQ, NYMag, etc), and became the fashion world's latest obsession when Karl Lagerfeld and Nicola Formichetti hired her to perform at Fashion Week in February. She's gotten love from Kanye and other people, but... Kanye.

The Beef, round one:
Azealia fired shots at Iggy on twitter saying that Iggy shouldn't have made the Freshman Class – specifically because Iggy refers to herself as a "slave master" in one of her songs, which I'm not even going to step to because honestly that's just a no brainer. You're a white. female. rapper. Iggy. It's not okay, and you had to know it was gonna be an issue. NOW that being said... Iggy was voted into the Freshman Class by the readers of XXL, so in theory, Azealia had the very same chance to get that last spot. AND it should be noted that Azealia got a profile piece in the front of that same issue of XXL with just about the same word count as Iggy's write up. Azealia went on to tweet that she is not "anti white girl," but she is "pro black girl." Iggy didn't really respond, just tweeted some generally happy things about being excited to be on the list and get her cover spot.

Round 2:
At the end of February, T.I. signed Iggy to his Grand Hustle Records label. The two were interviewed by DJ Drama who quickly brought up the beef with Azealia, and Iggy kept a cool head, saying that she worked hard for her own achievements, and that she wished Azealia would have been happy to see a woman on the list. T.I. defended Iggy, but then he got a little mean, saying that Azealia should hope she sucks enough to get shelved so that she can make the cover next year. Way harsh, Tai. Azealia hopped on the twitter bird once again and tweeted: "LMFAOO how u a grown man commenting on what's going on between two girls. Come on son. Stop it." ... which was a deeply terrible tweet on a lot of levels, primarily the "you're a big grown man and we're just two small girls with silly little girl problems that shouldn't matter to a big man like you" level.

Round 3:A$AP Rocky was interviewed by a UK blog called Punchbowl, and eventually got around to the Azealia vs. Iggy issue, stepping to Iggy's defense. First of all he says that Azealia in fact used to date one of the A$AP Mob, A$AP AV, which is sort of a weird element to this whole thing... but then he says that Azealia is being petty, and that Iggy is not racist ("TRUST ME"). Azealia doesn't appear to have responded to this interview as of yet.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
This whole scenario is just kind of shitty, if you ask me. We should all be so hyped to have so many active, talented female rappers out right now, and the fact that these two are beefing and not supporting each other is not helping either of them. My opinion of Azealia is also tainted by the fact that she has fired shots at other lady artists too: Kreayshawn retweeted a link to one of Azealia's videos that had originally been tweeted by PornHub (which, considering the fact that for much of the song, Azealia is chanting "I guess that cunt gettin eatin" is not really so far fetched), and she WENT OFF, saying "You're a dumb bitch. And you can't rap. I'll sit on your face. ... Fall back slut." YIKES. Kreayshawn wrote back: "I've been listening to your music all month" and "Did I just get smashed on twitter because I was supporting a fellow female? I sure did... *confused*" Azealia ALSO said some not-so-nice things about Nicki Minaj! I don't even like Nicki Minaj but at this point I'm starting to think that Azealia is just a big bully.

The best thing any of these ladies can do now is put their money where their mouth is (ignore the grammar, you get the sentiment). Azealia needs to put out a really incredible record, or even just a decent mixtape if she wants to prove some kind of point. She just put out a song called "Fuck Up The Fun" over a Diplo beat (which sounds like something from the Major Lazer cutting room floor, I hate to say), but honestly it's pretty much just rapid fire curse and n words, and threats, and more subtle shots at Iggy at the end. She only has a few songs out, no mixtape, and only two proper Youtube videos. Iggy played her cards right in that respect – she put out the video for "Pu$$y," got some good buzz going, dropped the mixtape and followed up with a couple more videos. And whether or not you like her music, those videos are good.
All in all, I wish these two would just... get along. And I wish all female rappers would get along. Maybe it's a pipe dream, but either way, tweet beef is not a good look, so my advice to these ladies is to either drop it or take it offline, 'cause the internet never forgets.*Among the artists who have turned down a spot in the Freshman Class are Drake, Nicki Minaj, and A$AP Rocky, and they seem to be doing just fine. They also don't seem to have a consistent track record with their picks – some of the past Freshman Class artists would up being essentially one hit/mixtape wonders.this is for the ladies @toomanyronis

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Hot off the presses – Nike has released a preview of their Spring 2012 Liberty Print collabo sneakers for the ladies, and these styles are FIRE. I showed you the hidden wedge dunks a few weeks back, which I have come to learn are actually called the Dunk Sky High, but I was not anticipating this much hotness – the Air Max Ones?!? The Free 5s?!

The first drop will be April 2nd, and will include the Free 5.0, the Cortez and the Air Max Ones. The other three hi-top styles will be out in May. WHICH ONES WILL YOU GET?

Check out Nike's Liberty Collections from 2009 and 2011, too. I hope they continue this collaboration – there are so few nice sneakers styles for women that aren't just pink pink pink, and these are really well done.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

I don't know what it is about these shapeless, frayed denim sack clothes that I love so much, but I do love them. I saw Elena Perminova in that awesome jacket and open-front jeans, and then learned through cool blog The Dreamy Little Picture Show that the designer is Marques'Almeida... and then about an hour after reading that post, found these pieces on Opening Ceremony! Go figure. Those jeans are kind of sexy, right? Oh and Cassie wore them on BET!

When I started writing this post, I was thinking, "Yeah! Windbreakers are so in right now, I'm so into that. I want one too!" But after thinking about it a little more, I could be wrong – just because Alexander Wang showed a couple windbreaker-y jackets doesn't necessarily mean they are "in." Any fashion ladies care to weigh in?
Regardless, I'm really into windbreakers right now and I'm exciting to buy one. It's humid and nasty in NYC with a chance of rain today: aka great windbreaker weather. I also like the idea of wearing one over a girly dress to take it down a notch. The Nike Cyclone jacket comes in a lot of colors and has a cool transparent thing going on, and that Stella x Adidas studio jacket comes in a slate color that is really nice too.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Even though I am pretty sure I'm just playing dress up in this picture, I like to imagine that I put this outfit together for Easter. Because I always really loved Easter growing up.

My mom always gave us a special treat along with the candy we got in our baskets, and one year I got a bottle of Tommy Girl Perfume. It was my first bottle of perfume and I thought it was just about the best thing, ever. I also really loved picking out an Easter outfit – in my family we usually got more dressed up for Easter than Christmas – and the brunches we had were always insanely delicious.

We also had some incredible Easter traditions. As I mentioned in my MSTN post from last year (whoa, by the way), we used to head out to my aunt and uncle's giant property outside of Portland and go on a huge golfball hunt, and at the end of the hunt, we got to trade in the golfballs for candy. When they moved and we didn't have the sprawl for that kind of a hunt, we hid eggs with everyone's name on them around the house and in the backyard. The trick was to find the egg with your name on it without giving away anyone else's eggs.

I would definitely, 100% wear this outfit to Easter brunch this year, if I had one to go to. I'm thinking about pulling a Martha and hosting here in Williamsburg with my famous spinach and cheese strata – who's in?

Friday, March 16, 2012

Woop woop it's Friday! I've got big plans: going to see 21 Jumpstreet and my love Chan Tatum, meeting blog star Pizza Rulez for the first time, Flywheel Sunday, then to a barbeque at Steve's new spot and SO MUCH MORE!

Friday calls for some weekend pre-gam jamz, and I'm here to provide. I'm assuming you're all on the Spotify train, right? Good. Direct your browsers toPregameGrillz.com, which is not in fact a website but a playlist that I made for your weekend pregame. Here's what's on it:

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Season affective disorder must be a real thing, because ever since the sun came out and the temperature went up about 10 degrees, I've been in a beyond great mood and feeling ultra motivated to pick up all those half-finished projects that have been on my to-do list since, oh, October. While I'm not quite ready to bring out the shorts and tanks or pastel sundresses, I'd love to be rocking this look this weekend. That biker jacket is enough Spring to last a life time. Purr.

Nike recently launched a retail concept that is pretty awesome, and I thought I would share it with you in case it hasn't come across your desk yet. The editorial-meets-retail model is a pretty tried and true way to get people shopping, but Nike's newest version has a twist – it's all on Tumblr.

On MadeByNike.Tumblr.com, you can peruse beautiful "normal" ladies (and by normal I guess we just mean they are not professional athletes or fitness models a lá Mallory from Real World Paris) wearing Nike gear styled up in wearable looks that even gym-averse ladies will like. Each tumblr post features a link to "shop the look," which directs you to a lookbook page where you can add items to your cart and check out, all without ever leaving tumblr.

A relatively new site, so far the models include blogger Bip Ling (seen below in boxing gloves), and photographer/filmmaker Charlotte Kid (seen above reclining), and each has been introduced in a short but sweet video.

Obviously, I'm partial to this whole project because my personal style is on the sportier, tom-boy side of things, but I think (*hope*) that this will turn people on to some of the amazing pieces in Nike's NSW line, like the leather-sleeved crew neck sweatshirt above (at bottom), or that leather and wool bomber (far right) that's currently on an airplane on its way to me.

Final thoughts – from a business perspective, this seems absolutely brilliant to me. How many retailer emails flood your inbox each morning, and how many of those do you actually read? Tumblr users are checking their feed constantly, and Nike is now pushing their products in an immediately shoppable, aesthetically pleasing envelope, right into that feed. Smells like profit to me!

What do you think of the Nike NSW line and this new retail concept? Will you shop it?

And then I spotted this pic in Teen Vogue (shut up, we get it at the office) of a Liberty Print pair, which you already know is my jam. Weirdly though, this page does not make mention of the fact that these have a hidden wedge anywhere... which is just kind of lazy, right? Especially since it's pretty obvious that the wedge is there (in high res you can see the side stitching around the hidden heel).

I have to admit I don't know if I'm really feeling the look overall... I want to try a pair on for sure, but the colorway on those Libertys is a little too contrast-y for me. I would love to see an all-black pair, I think those would be fire.

Mystikal is back! Birdman comes in with the laziest hook I've ever heard (word. word. word, other word), and Weezy is just kind of like "Check out my Jeremy Scott Adidas ahaha!" BUT I'M FEELING IT! Check it out and leave a thought.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Hi friends! Here is this weird editorial I found through the wonderful human, Febreeze Van Noten, on the twitter. This editorial is notable for several reasons, most importantly: it was shot at Kellogg's D, aka Kellogg's Diner, which is approximately four blocks from my house and home to everything you want to eat after lots of drinks at 3am.

This appeared in Vogue Italia which consistently features really wackadoo, not PC spreads. I'm pretty into it. I could say more things but just take a look, I split the images up because there are 16 so jut be prepared.

There is a lot of the same old, same old out there when it comes to boutique online retailers, but Boylston Trading Co. is neither the same, nor the old. I checked out the site tonight and quickly got lost in a delightful rabbit hole of features that the site offers, including incredibly detailed "dissections" of products, video interviews with the likes of Action Bronson, editorial spreads, and lots of really nice menswear and some sick suede Adidas. Check out the site to see what I mean – and here's a little preview plus what I'll be buying and wearing first.